Saturday, March 02, 2013

Tay's research snippet. Mint condition: the coin of the realm

Before the research snippet, a note to say I'm currently on blog tour for the USA publication of Shadows and Strongholds and various bloggers will be hosting my guest posts and doing giveaways. At the moment Enchanted by Josephine are hosting one where I write about my working day. I'll post the notifications as they come along.http://enchantedbyjosephine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/amazing-guestpost-giveaway-elizabeth.htmlCoinage of the realm: A few notes before I have to go and prepare for my Saturday visitors!

In the period I write about there was only one coin in England - the silver penny. It was about the size of an adult person's thumb nail - see photo. A mark of silver wasn't a coin, but a unit of measure consisting of 13 shillings and four pence. There were 12 pennies in a shilling, so you'd need 160 of them to make a mark. The measure is originally a Viking one.If you needed to pay for something that cost less than a penny, you would split you silver penny in half down the cross in the middle and it would naturally become a 'half-penny', later to become a fully rounded coin on its own. If you needed smaller change still, then you cut the coin again and so there were four sections, and one of these sections would be a 'fourthing', later to become a 'farthing.'As mentioned in a post earlier this week, Henry I decreed that broken silver should be acceptable coinage of the realm and that tradesmen were not to refuse it.The quality of the silver was highly important because the coinage was a unit of weight rather than just a token. Each year at the exchequer, samples of coins were melted down to test how pure the silver was with which the sheriffs were paying in the dues from their areas. If discrepancies were found, then the offending batch of pennies was taken out of service, bored through or otherwise rendered voice and taken for the King's use, presumably to be reminted into proper coinage. When Henry I discovered that the coinage of his realm was being adulterated, he summoned the moneyers to his Christmas court in Winchester in 1125. One by one they had their right hands and their testicles cut off, the punishments being completed by 12th night.An interesting random fact is that neither King Richard I, nor King John put their own names on English pennies. All the coins from their reigns are marked Henricus Rex. However, in 1205, his Dublin mint put out coins with his name and portrait on.

There's a lot more to say on this fascinating subject, but for another time.

Search This Blog

THE WINTER CROWN

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

" Wow! I feel like someone used to watching movies in black and white but has just seen the first one in technicolor! " A personal letter from a reader.

"The Winter Crown ...will, I have no doubt, become the definitive fictional account of this remarkable woman.' ..." I’ve read a fair few fictional depictions of Henry II over the years and I must say that his portrait in The Winter Crown has the most authentic feel of them all."Kate Atherton, author of For Winters Night blog.

"Eeanor’s life story has been told many times over in historical novels but rarely with such insight, emotional intensity and page-turning readability." Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post.

"In the world of the arts, the Black Legend and the Golden Myth still hold sway, as seen in novels, such as Alison Weir's, which seek to portray both the scandalous, adulterous queen of legend and the powerful female ruler. Historians may shake their heads at the perpetuation of such myths, but many historical novelists such as Sharon Kay Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick are seeking to apply modern scholarship to their fiction, and consequently avoid the most egregious of the legends that surround Eleanor."

THE SUMMER QUEEN UK cover

US paperback cover. UK hardback

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE SUMMER QUEEN

"What I loved about this novel, and I have felt this way about all of Elizabeth’s novels that I have read, is that she does not pander to stereotypes or write scandal for the sake of it. The historical Eleanor is defamed beyond belief- a whore chasing anything in trousers, a woman who committed incest with her uncle, a woman who was ‘ahead of her time’, and so on. Elizabeth’s Alienor is none of these things. She is treated fairly, as a woman of her own time, written in a believable way. Elizabeth does not go for scandal because she does not need to- the writing in this novel makes that very clear. Her scene setting is lovely, her character development top notch, and the book is a compulsive page turner. I couldn’t put it down." Sarah Bell

."The Summer Queen is a fabulous novel based on the most up-to-date and meticulous research. This is historical fiction at its best and I loved every page of it." Kate Atherton, blogger.

"I have read just about everything I can about Eleanor and enjoyed both biographical and fictional accounts of her life but I must say that your creation of Eleanor is the most compelling." Reader from Australia

"I loved the story; I loved the way the author wrote Alienor as a woman of her times instead of a thoroughly modern independent woman, or a slut in chase of anything in pants. As with all Chadwick novels, there's also the added plus of being sucked into another century with the sights, smells and sounds that wrap up a darn-near perfect reading experience. I couldn't put it down, and very sorry I'm going to have to wait for the next installment. Reader from the USA"

I often see the expressions, `fleshing out the history' and `making it real', and they more than apply here...the main aspect that made me keep turning the pages and burning the midnight oil? The things that I didn't know about Alienor.." Reader from Australia

"Chadwick has succeeded where many other novelists have failed by giving us not just the legend but the very human young woman – intelligent, determined, witty and sexy." Pam Norfolk. Lancashire Evening Post.